A Symbol
by JHLZ.NTL
Summary: Lin Beifong goes to galas.
1. A Symbol: A Master's Meditation Beads

**Part 1: A Symbol**

* * *

 _For my Earth, Lin,_

 _These meditation beads, traditionally made of wood, is worn by only the Grand Masters of any given Air Temple. Though you may not be an Airbending Master, you might as well be considering you have practically mastered every airbending form and have certainly mastered me._

 _Love,_

 _Tenzin_

"Awww! How about this piece, Lin?" Izumi offered replacing the note in the secret center compartment of the velveteen platform on which the string of jade beads sat in the drawer of Lin's massive jewelry chest that Tenzin commissioned for her.

"It's flattering, but so impractical!" Lin said glancing at the open drawer as she ironed uniform waves into her long, thick, untamed mass of black hair in preparation for the annual gala commemorating the end of the hundred year war.

"But it is a symbol can't you see? You guys will be married soon and though not a grand master of the original air temples, you WILL be a grand master of Air Temple Island!" Kya said excitedly.

Lin smiled looking down at the dressing table. "I suppose I will," she sighed looking up at the mirror again, brushing her bangs to the side. "Alright, I'll wear it! But just for one night. Zumzu, could you help me with the dress that Tenzin chose for me?" Lin asked walking away from the dressing table and jewelry box over to a wardrobe.

"Tenzin chose your dress?" Izumi gasped.

"He always does. Left to my own devices he knows I would just wear my uniform. Every year he has some sort of goal or statement as Councilman and he uses me to help him convey it," Lin replied opening the doors of the wardrobe, sifting through the tags on the garment bags for the most recent addition to her collection.

"Awwwww!" Kya and Izumi cooed. "That's so cute! You get to be reduced to an arm decoration for an evening!"

Lin shrugged. "It's the least I can do. Besides, I actually kind of enjoy it. When I'm with him, I don't have to be the one talking to people. He makes these insufferable engagements bearable by answering all of the politicians' petty questions for me," Lin replied unzipping the garment bag and hanging the dress up on the hook inside the door of the open wardrobe.

"That is absolutely stunning!" Izumi exclaimed admiring the embroidery and intricate beading and color scheme of every layer.

Lin pulled off layer after layer from the hanger, draping them each over the covers of hers and Tenzin's bed. It was a little daunting to see all of the material she had to put on that summer evening. She paused, looking down at it all while still wearing just her cream-colored silk robe.

"Knock knock," a voice called.

"Tenzin!" Lin turned with a smile.

"You're still not ready?" he asked.

"No!" she replied accusingly. "Unlike some one I know, I don't get to just throw on a cape over my regular daywear and call it formal. I get to deal with all this!" she exclaimed feigning annoyance, opening her arms out to the bed.

"I never realized there was that much to it! I just send in drawings to Vera Wang in Ba Sing Se or Daiki Suzuki in the Fire Nation Capital and they make something amazing," Tenzin replied.

"Damn! Wang? Suzuki? How many yuans does Tenzin spend on your wardrobe for these celebrations?" Kya asked.

Lin brushed it off. "I stopped keeping track after the first year he became Councilman. I told my accountant to only notify me if he breaks twenty million in a month." Lin informed them casually as she slipped off the beige robe to stand in nothing but her bindings and underwear.

Kya gagged and Izumi has gasped at the sheer amount of liquid assets the Beifong could let her husband squander on clothing.

Tenzin held his breath more captivated by her nearly naked figure than anything.

"Thanks for going through all this for me, year after year," Tenzin said watching as Lin place a rather stiff and torturous-looking piece of fabric around her muscular torso.

"Heh, yeah. You're lucky I love you," Lin grumbled as Izumi wrapped a cable around it, cinching it tight, forcefully molding police chief's abdomen into a delicate hour glass shape with an impossibly small waist.

"Relax Lin, I can tell you're holding your breath!" Izumi chided.

Lin harrumphed and exhaled allowing Izumi to yank the cord around the stiff layer even tighter, tying it off securely before reaching for the first of many silken layers to the intricate gown. Tenzin watched, captivated by the transformation of his fiancée from esteemed Chief Of Police to simply his fiancée. Finally they pinned back her hair back with a leafy silver and jade headband with small sparkling emeralds in it, letting her long, dark, wavy locks cascade down her back. Finally, Tenzin pulled out the drawer with the Grand Master's necklace that Tenzin had made for her. She lifted it over her head with her bending and placed it onto her shoulders. Tenzin lifted her hair out from under the heavy beads and then smiled, admiring his own handiwork in the jewelry as he lifted the heavy medallion off of her chest momentarily.

"Are we ready now?" he asked.

"Yes," she said slipping her small hand into his much larger one. He gave her hand a small squeeze then let go, moving it to wrap around her tiny waist so she could be free to pick up the front of her long skirts and walk more easily.

"You're not wearing shoes!" Tenzin exclaimed.

"I never do on these nights! You haven't noticed? If I am going to sacrifice mobility for appearances, then I most certainly won't give up my seismic sight. This way, I can warn you if someone is coming and you can fight," Lin explained.

"That is— among the smartest thing I have ever heard," Tenzin said holding her tighter as they walked down the hall of the main house. "You don't know how many times a day I thank the spirits for your existence Lin," Tenzin said kissing her cheek. She leaned away from the display of affection.

"Yeah yeah... I would say the same, but I don't believe in what I can't see so instead, I'll thank Sugarqueen and Avatar Airhead for making you so horrendously gushy." Lin replied gruffly. Tenzin facepalmed and Lin laughed. "And perfect for me," she added jumping up to give him a quick, rare peck on the cheek just before they reached the dining room of the main house on Air Temple island where his parents were waiting for them to leave.

"Oh don't you look absolutely lovely, Little Linny?!" Katara exclaimed taking Lin's hands in hers and kissing the young Police Chief on both cheeks.

"Thank you Aunt Katara!" Lin replied politely, beaming with pride.

"I love the necklace, son! I think it will make a good statement. The world is changing. You two are proof that the people of all four nation's can live not just among each other, but in the same household, happily. Though opposites in so many ways, you compliment each other like puzzle pieces in a game." Aang said patting his son on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Dad," Tenzin replied.

 **A/N I can't decide if I want to make this a bunch of one-shots of general Young Linzin shit or make it solely about the histories of the various pieces of luxury jewelry I think Lin has locked away somewhere in her super secret estate.**

 **Also this was just because I wanted to picture Lin in a beautiful gown being no more than an arm decoration for an evening a year and liking it because she doesn't have to talk to people. And because she is so ordinarily kickass, fierce, and independent, I wanted to see her let somebody else take her reins for once.**

 **PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! Should I continue this series of oneshots? If so, keep it about jewelry or just any and all Young Linzin happenings?**


	2. A Statement: Acceptance

**Hi All, I needed to write something a little light-hearted in the aftermath of a chem midterm, so... here ya go! Enjoy the products of me trying to cope with stress!** _ **  
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 **Part 2: A Statement**

 _Tenzin,_

 _I finally wore these ridiculous things you got for me. Honestly, why did I ever give you access to my vault? So that you could squander away my family's fortune on useless pieces of clothing and jewelry that I will most likely never wear? Do you know how long it took your sister to get all of those chains into my unmanageable hair for the ceremony and then out again for the after party? I swear, when I get home, I am bending you to Omashu for you to never return!_

 _Lin_

In a different hand and a different ink, someone had written:

 _Don't believe a word she says, Tenzin. She loves the jewelry! Why else would she let us take her picture in it?_

Then in Lin's hand again, had been written:

 _Fuck Kya._

The letter finally closed with :

 _P.S. we are on the run from the Earth Princess. Someone hit the cactus juice pretty hard yesterday and decided to have a little too much fun. (Don't worry, nobody got hurt). We'll likely arrive back in the city by noon tomorrow by either train or ostrich horse depending on if Kya can pay our way singing Air Nomad songs Aang taught her as a girl._

* * *

Tenzin smiled at the photograph of his fiancée wearing the new silken gown made by Daiki Suzuki. She looked beautiful in the green and cream colored gown embellished with silver and gold threading, with pink and green beads. Silver bracelets, necklaces, and chains in her hair complimented the gown perfectly with an unfathomable number of emeralds, diamonds, and morganite stones set into the thing.

Tenzin knew she had chosen to go with the Fire Nation designer of their two favorites just to spite the bride that no one in their friend group particularly liked. She was the Princess of the Earth Kingdom, a bitter and arrogant young woman with no sense of propriety. She treated herself the first born son of a god or something, and proceeded to boss around everyone that came into her presence. If said person didn't comply, she made up a thousand and one hundred reasons for why they were unworthy of her consideration to execute the task in the first place and made every effort to put them down. She was a bully and most unfortunately, next in line for the Earth Kingdom throne.

Tenzin placed the letter and the photograph to that morning's newspaper bearing a recap of the Earth Princess's wedding.

 **Blue Spirit teams up with the Kemurikage to wreak Havoc on the Earth Princess's Wedding!**

Tenzin should have felt disappointed, but in fact, felt extremely proud. The picture the press got of the three "spirits" looked pretty terrifying to the common man, but only comical to Tenzin. They were in their pro-bending formation with Izumi at the head, not the captain but leading the charge as the blue spirit and carrying dao swords, to her left, Kya running with her arms back, a water whip of cactus juice already visible in her hand, and to the right of the blue spirit, Lin with a cable latched around the foot of a table, no doubt ready to hurl it across the room and make a mess.

Just as he was about to pick up the paper and read what else the reporters had to say, the door opened to reveal three slightly disheveled women with messy hair and three-day-old make-up smudged faces.

"I swear Kya- IF YOU EVER GO NEAR ONE MORE GLASS OF-" Lin yelled condescendingly at Tenzin's sister who couldn't stop laughing since presumably the beginning of this adventure.

Tenzin stood and greeted Izumi who came his way first. "How was the reception?" the Fire Princess asked in a half hug, bending down to steal his morning paper.

"I can't believe you guys got away!" Tenzin exclaimed rushing over to embrace his fiancée.

"I can't believe it either! Kya here almost lost her mask and gave us away!" Lin replied breathlessly leaning into Tenzin's robe, still trying to calm down from the rush of fleeing the Earth Kingdom.

"Oh don't blame me!" Kya called from the kitchen, getting something to eat.

"If its anyone's fault, its the both of you," Izumi replied taking a sip of Tenzin's tea, too lazy to fetch her own cup. She frowned and reheated it with her firebending.

"WHAT?!" Both of the other women shrieked.

"You've got to be joking!" Kya replied.

"I'm not! Your bending would have given us away if we stayed any longer anyways; it's too distinct," Izumi said, returning Tenzin's cup of tea to the coaster before leaning back on the couch and turning the page of the newspaper.

"She's right about that, I'm afraid. You're just too good at metalbending," Tenzin said, touching his nose to Lin's. "The whole can world can see it plain as the light of day."

"Hey Zumju, do you think the Father Lord, Zuzu will be mad at you for doing the thing?"Kya asked, flopping down on the couch snuggling up under the Princess's arm.

"Honestly? Probably not. I am pretty sure he hates her almost as much as me," Izumi replied, switching her prescription goggles out for her more comfortable glasses.

Just then, the door to the house opened again revealing Concilman Sokka, Avatar Aang, and Master Katara.

"I can't believe you DID IT!" Sokka yelled, picking up the young Police Chief rather unceremoniously and spinning her around.

She laughed. "It was..." Lin shook her head.

"Unbelievable..."

"Exhilarating..."

"Terrifying..."

"Exciting."

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe you encouraged them to do this!" Katara groaned swatting her big brother on the shoulder.

"What happened to being Chief of Police and enforcing the rules?" Aang asked Lin with a smirk.

"Hey, It was the City of Walls and Secrets!" Lin shrugged. "We HAD to break the rules!"

"So, tell us EVERYTHING!" Sokka said to them.

"And start with the dress!" Tenzin begged.

"Well," Lin began. "As you know, Kya and Zumi practically always wear the same thing to these events, and we wanted to make a statement so..."

"And what was that statement, dear?" Katara asked.

"Acceptance," Lin answered. "I knew Vera Wang wouldn't care if I wore Suzuki for a night because we still buy her designs and the world knows it. It was Hou Ting who felt slighted for me not wearing an Earth Kingdom Designer. Needless to say, Hou-Ting didn't get the hint that not everything had to be a competition and seemed to dis everyone that wasn't her father that evening, so before Kya could get too wasted, we sneaked away, changed and packed and shipped home our gowns and jewelry and in the dark capes and masks, decided to destroy the place."

"As a warning," Izumi added with a devious smirk.

The older generation laughed. "Oh, what I'd give to be young again!" Sokka sighed nostalgically.

"I don't know why we allowed you three to end up in a place without being chaperoned or supervised by someone with a little more sanity," Tenzin mused quietly as he ran a finger along Lin's smooth jawbone.

"Someone like you?" Lin asked with a soft smile. "It wouldn't have changed anything," She said dragging him in with her beautifully brilliant emerald green eyes shining out of the raccoon's rings that had encircled her eyes. "We would have dragged you in either way."

"And what makes you so confident of that?" Tenzin asked leaning on her head.

"You can't resist anything when I ask," Lin replied pressing a kiss on his lips before letting go of his body and walking away leaving him feeling slightly bereft.

"I need to go bathe," she said disappearing down the hall quickly.

"What a fucking tease," Izumi mocked from the couch.

"You'd never do that to me, would you?" Kya asked looking up at Izumi, pawing at her sharp chin and smooth cheeks. "Just kiss me and walk away?"

"Never," Izumi replied with a smirk and a wink.

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 _ **Remember the blue spirit? And the kemurikage from the comics? No? Yeah? Oh well! Either way, I hope you enjoyed the young Linzin, Flaming Moon Badger antics, fun Uncle Sokka, and a little bit of Kyzumi towards the ending. Feel free to leave thoughts and feedback in the reviews and tell me if you want this series of one shots continued:)**_

 _ **-j**_


End file.
